It has been a pleasure to feature the work of the Tender Photo Editorial Fellows during the past few months. Five writers based on the African continent have worked with the cofounders of Tender Photos, Emmanuel Iduma and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, to initiate and facilitate correspondence with the featured photographers, write short narrative captions, and prepare the newsletter for publication. They also participated in masterclasses focused on critical responses to photographs, and on how photographs can inspire the writing of fiction.

The fellowship, now in its second edition, is targeted at early to mid-career individuals who write in English and are interested in deepening their engagement with photography about the continent. Preference was given to those with little to no formal training in the visual arts or art criticism.

The 2025 fellows were Adéwùnmí Adébáyọ̀ (Nigeria), Haja Fanta (Senegal), Michelle Angwenyi (Kenya), Tony Agbapuonwu (Nigeria), and Max Diallo Jakobsen (Guinea). You can see a selection of the newsletter editions they curated below.

• “Patterns of Nature” by Marta Camarada
• “Douz Conversations” by Sana Badri
• “A Journey into Nature Where Time Stops to Play” by Abderrahmane Ajja
• “United Skates of Africa” by Tora Traoré

• “Pulses of Lake Victoria” by Neema Ngelime
• “Up Like Sun, Down Like Sun” by Ian Gichohi
• “Wagen Suuq” by Faduma Mohamoud Ali
• “The Great Escape” by Khalid Omar

• “Seeds of Change” by Adefolarin Adegboye
• “The Mask” by Djibril Drame
• “Noir” by Angéle Etoundi Essamba
• “July Tale” by Nourhan Maayouf

• “La recherche du visage d’un Die” by Aurelie Tiffy
• “Hope” by Viviane Rakotoarivony
• “The Signal” by Alice Kayibanda

“Le fils de la Mer (The Son of the Sea)” by Ibrahim Ben Saïd Camara